Jake dropped Emma off at her house, and waited to watch her successfully enter, before he left to go home. It had been a long day for him too. After Gia had chosen to collapse in his arms, he had decided it would be best to stay and take care of her while they were at the hospital. Between being the point person for her and also having to get Gavin home with Troy, and then later having to come back and take care of Emma, he had been drained. The black ranger also knew that the following day would be equally hard, if not worse, so he left for his house immediately, knowing he would need rest to face what was coming.
Emma entered the house and found Gavin waiting for her, just like the night before. He tried to talk to her. "Emma, are you-"
"Have you eaten?"
Gavin sighed. "Em, come on. We should talk about it."
"Did you eat? It's almost nine. You need dinner, especially since you got treatment today."
"You don't have to act like nothing is bothering you, Emma. Not everything is about me, you're allowed to have feelings too. You don't have to always be strong around me, please. I can help you. Ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away."
Emma pulled out a small container from the fridge, with about ten berries inside. Money was still tight, and the food situation wasn't any better. She sighed as she pushed the fruits to her brother, knowing she would have to go another day without eating anything.
"I really don't want to talk about it. Maybe another time. I just... can't right now. Eat the berries and go to bed. You need rest. You're already far enough behind in school, you can't miss tomorrow. Get some sleep."
Gavin opened his mouth to protest, but knew nothing would get through to her. He would have to try again to get her to open up in the morning. Instead, he just took his berries and left to his room. Once again, he found that the best thing he could for Emma was to give her one less thing to worry about.
It was around one in the morning, and Gavin had long since gone to bed. Emma hadn't moved from her spot at the dinner table. As soon as she was confident he was asleep, she had withdrawn into herself. If left undisturbed, she would have just sat there frozen for the rest of the night.
However, the sound of something clattering out on the driveway broke her from her trance-like state. She immediately grabbed her morpher at the unfamiliar noise, and crept to the door. Before she could even look through the peephole, she heard the door unlocking and saw it open. Her heart jumped to her throat, until she saw it was just Gia.
She looked past her friend and saw Gia's upended bike in the middle of her driveway. That would explain the loud crashing sound she heard. In her haste to get to the house, Gia must not have even bothered to make sure her bike was upright before she jumped off and got to the door. Then, Emma briefly wondered about how Gia had gotten in without her even opening the door, but remembered the key she had given to her.
Before Emma could even say anything, Gia ran in and wrapped her arms tight around her best friend. Her eyes were rimmed red, and it was clear she had been crying. "I'm so sorry, Em. I didn't mean any of it, I swear." She tried to say more, but dissolved into sobs before anything else could get out.
Emma didn't know what to say, so just held her best friend until Gia was able to calm down a little. "I should never have opened my mouth. Everything I said was so horrible, and none of it was true. You have to believe me when I say I didn't mean anything. It's not your fault, Emma. Please believe me. I'm so sorry for everything I said."
The pink ranger could feel the guilt and shame radiating off of Gia, and squeezed her in reassurance. The apology was sincere, but Emma still didn't trust her voice. The whole day, it had been failing her. She whispered to her friend. "It's okay, Gia. I forgive you."
Gia felt even worse at how willing Emma was to forgive her. "It's okay to be mad at me, Emma. Everything I said was uncalled for. You don't have to forgive me because you feel bad. You have every right to hate me, I deserve it for what I did."
Emma broke off the hug to close the door. It had been open this whole time, and it was still past midnight after all. She wasn't taking any chances. "Gia, I'm upset, but I'm not angry. It was... a really bad day. For everyone. I understand why you said what you said, and I know you didn't mean it." She hesitated. "And there is some truth to what you said."
Gia immediately cut in to protest, but Emma wouldn't let her. "You were right. Ever since Gavin got thrown into my lap, I've been so focused on him that I lost sight of everything else. I shouldn't have just disappeared on your mother or father, after everything they did to take care of me. They didn't know anything about me, and I lied to them everyday I knew them about what happened to my parents, and they still took care of me. I didn't treat them the way they deserved to be treated, and that's on me. I'm sorry. It's my fault your mom left late, and it's my fault she was at that light."
The yellow ranger's voice broke when she heard her best friend had agreed with the angry rant she had gone off on earlier. "Emma, no. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault except that damn asshole who thought it would be okay to get blackout drunk in the morning and start driving. I'm sorry I said it was your fault, and made you think that. It's not what I believe. It wasn't you, please don't blame yourself."
Emma still felt guilty, but tried to suppress some of it. She figured that as time went on, she would feel better. But right now, everything was still fresh, and everything was still hurting. "Gia, it's fine. If I were in your position, I probably would have done the exact same thing. I know you were just hurt. I promise I'm not mad at you. And I'm sorry if I made you feel like you didn't matter to me anymore, or that I was neglecting you. It wasn't my intention."
Gia just wrapped her friend in another hug, too afraid to let go. Her mother had been alive and well that morning, but the world had turned everything upside down in the blink of an eye. She was not going to let an argument take away another person who was important to her. "I understand, Emma. You haven't been making me feel neglected, I lashed out and tried to say something that would hurt you. I told you that he needs to be your priority, and I still stand by that. I should have never guilted you for wanting to take care of him."
The pink ranger led them over to the couch so they could sit. "It looks like we both have our fair share of issues to work through." Gia laughed, eyes still watering with unshed tears. Emma refocused the attention back to Gia. "How are you doing? I know it's so fresh. I really am sorry about everything."
Gia took her friend's hand, and the tears spilled out. Her voice was much less steady than it had been even ten seconds ago. "It still hurts. How did you do it? When your brother was taken from you, and your mom left, everything you loved was taken away. Your father was hurting you, all the while. How did you get past it and move on?"
Emma looked down. "I don't think I ever did."
Gia's heart broke both for herself and the girl who had become like a sister to her. Their lives had way more pain than any teenager should have to experience. "We'll work through this together. I did a horrible job of showing it today, but I really am here for you. If you need anything, or even just someone to talk to, I always have time for you."
Her best friend nodded. "I'm here for you too. We can get through this together."
Gia gave her hand a weak squeeze. "So are we good?" Emma responded with a small smile. "Yeah, of course we are."
The yellow ranger wrapped an arm around her best friend as they sat on the couch together. They had one moment of peace before Emma turned around and smacked her as hard as she could on the arm. "Are you out of your god damn mind?! It's one in the morning and pitch black outside! You decided it would be a good idea to ride your bike to my house? In the dark? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius."
Gia rubbed her arm, knowing that was going to bruise. "Okay, I guess I kind of deserved that for shoving you earlier. I'm sorry for that too. I was trying to sleep, but the guilt over our fight was keeping me up. I knew I wouldn't be able to rest until I made things right with you, or at least apologized."
Emma eased up a little. "Does your dad even know you're here?" Gia shook her head shyly.
"I kind of snuck out. I really needed to see you, and I knew he wouldn't let me. I waited until he was asleep and left. He's having a really hard time too right now, I figured I shouldn't bother him or cause trouble."
"And how do you think he'd react if he woke up in the middle of the night and found his daughter missing? After everything that's happened today?"
Gia hung her head. "You're right. I didn't even think about that. I just left."
Emma gave her one last hug for the night. "Come on, let's get you washed up. You can stay with me tonight. I would want you to be with him right now, but I don't have a car and I definitely do not want you to bike back home by yourself. Just text him now explaining why you left, and that you're staying the night, so that he at least knows where you are when he wakes up. Or if he's already awake, it'll relieve him greatly to hear from you. I'll go get an extra pillow for you."
Gia smiled for the first time that day. "Thanks, Em."
It certainly didn't feel like it now, but maybe someday, everything would turn out okay.
